DAREN of WV News December 13, 2015(.C23)
WA8LLM (304) 679-3470 wa8llm@yahoo.com
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, 319 COMMUNICATIONS DR, WAVERLY, WV 26184
www.wc8ec.com or www.wc8ec.org
DAREN News, are articles and information about the Digital Amateur Radio "Emergency" Network of WV, which operates on 145.69 MHz. Anyone having any information about DAREN, or Amateur Radio in general, and would like to share it with others, may send it to WA8LLM @ PKBGWV on 145.69 MHz, or to my E-Mail: wa8llm@yahoo.com. A State Wide DAREN NET is operated every Saturday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and lately, before and after those hours. The DAREN Net Announcement, showing the MAIN NCS, ALTERNATE NCS, NODEs accessible to both, and the previous week's check-ins, are posted by Thursday on most of the Main county DAREN PBBS'. The DAREN News can also be found on the www.wc8ec.com and www.wc8ec.org websites.
Several Amateur Radio operators in the area participated in an exercise this past Thursday, December 10th. The exercise was sponsored by the Region 5 Hospital Association. There were several hospital and health care facilities that had Amateur Radio operators at their locations. The Amateur didn't only operate on the Amateur Radio frequencies; they also used the Public Safety radios and commercial frequencies. The DAREN Chatroom of CHATRM was used for those communicating on Packet Radio. The Wood County Emergency Communications group set up their portable telephone system in the command center, which was located in the 1st floor conference room of the Mid-Ohio Health Department, Parkersburg. The telephone system allowed the representatives from each of the health care facilities, who were in the Command Center, pass practice messages to each other, and to other locations. By using the telephone system, they were also able to have the radio operators, who were located in the Communications Center, located in the 4th flood conference room, pass messages by radio. There were several lessons learned, and mistakes recognized, which the communication groups have already started correcting. The exercise officials said the communications was a big help during the exercise. The communication groups have decided to report the exercise as an SET (Emergency Simulated Test) to the ARRL.
Not much else has happened this past week, and I don't know of anything happening this coming week. If your club or group has anything they would like to tell others, you can send it to me.
There were 42 check-ins to the State Wide DAREN Net again this week. Judy Peterson, N8UFQ, who has been participating in the net since October 31, 1992, has completed 1200 check-ins, and will be receiving her certificate. I want to welcome Rick Sawyer, WV8DOC, back to the DAREN system. Rick has been missing from the net since July 23, 2011. Rick participated in the Packet Class that was held in Parkersburg on November 28th. It must have inspired him into getting back into Packet Radio.